Sorry guy's for my delayed respose but yes I am having fun with this new toy indeed! I was busy trying to get the hang of it as it is very different from all those IBM Thinkpads I used all these years (I went through 5 of them in last 15 years)
I updated most of the software, as well as windows updates. After registering it with Samsung they also gave me 3 extra months of warranty.
Out of the box the default settings were all samsung optimised so it was a balance between power and extended battery life. I put it it high performance mode and this is when this thing was blazingly fast, Sweeeet
The trade-off was battery lasting 4 instead of 7 hours, stillnot bad.
What I really liked:
- Speed
- Hard drive capacity
- Screen and graphics
- Sound better than I expected from the speakers considering it is and ultra thin and light laptop
- Good wifi connectivity, locks in and does not drop the connection.
- Fit and finish is excellent for the price but not really built like a tank which was standard for the Thinkpads. (Thinkpads also costs more for the sake of argument)
- Not much bloatware, although I did delete a few programs which I would not use
- Samsung software updates worked like a charm, it not only updated all the software and patches but also updated the bios without any hassle.
- The laptop is eligable for free Windows 8 upgrade (although I may put it off for the time being based on the thread on PC review itself and others disliking it)
- Full recovery disk came with the package plus hidden partition of Samsung for factory reset, I tested it and it took only 11 minutes to restore. Back in the 90's a factory restore on my first IBM laptop took 6 hours
- 4 GB ram in single bank and bank 2 empty so upgrading is not wasteful and I can simply plonk a 4 GB mem stick in the empty one for a total of 8 GB onboard. A 4 GB stick on Amazon is for $22
I have seen other laptops with 2 GB in each slot or a stick of 4 in fixed and 2 in user replaceable slot which means in order to upgrade your 2 GB stick is rendered useless for which you have paid.
- Plenty of ports for all kinds of connections including a vga port (I am surprised they managed it on this one, many ultrabooks do not sport one).
What I did not like:
- The keyboard: my IBM laptop was too good, no comparision here, the tactile feedback is nowhere near the IBM one. It was generally said about IBM keyborards that they were the best, now I understand why they said so. However the keyboard on this machine is much better than most out there today.
- Keyboard is not backlit or illuminated, I sorely miss this. I use my laptop at night in bed and the illumination was very useful.
- The A/C cord length is not as long as I would have liked.
I hope I covered most of it but if I remember something will come back and update it.
